PhB query (1 Viewer)

[marxman]

Hi all, my careers adviser and ANU maths professor Barry Croke recently recommended me to go for the PhB in Science, more particularly for maths. My only concern is the category of listed "olympiad achievements" of which i really have none. I participate a lot in school life and extracurricular activities, and I was recently given an atar estimate well above 99... How affected am I for selection by not having done these olympiads? My school has never even advertised olympiad competitions let alone competed in them... I am a super keen maths student though and really want to try and get this degree.

 

[xixander]

You won't be affected at all – no need to worry.

While PhB is ideally suited to the IMO/IPhO crowd and does attract such people, this isn't a strict requirement and many of us, for whatever reasons, didn't even participate in the local selections.

Think of Olympiad achievement as a "sufficient but not necessary" condition: if you got a medal at one of those international competitions, you will be welcomed with open arms regardless of your school results; otherwise you must give evidence of your abilities by achieving a 99 ATAR, which is the route most applicants take.

This isn't an official policy, of course, but I have seen enough cases to be giving informed advice.